The prior art recognizes a variety of packings wherein the sealing effect is achieved by means of an elastomer material which is pressurized by means of a hydraulic fluid or compressed air. One embodiment of the present invention is an adjustable packing for packing a gap between two surfaces, the packing comprising a packing member for sealing said gap, elastomer for adjusting the sealing pressure of said packing member, said elastomer comprising either partially the form of particles or preshaped pieces. The use of elastomer, which is at least partially in particular form, provides for an intensified pressure transmission ability of elastomer if compared with the use of a substantially uniformly preset elastomeric compound and, in addition, the particulate form of elastomer provides for considerably more freedom in shaping regarding the elastomer spaces/passages.
The packing or sealing of shafts has been carried out earlier by using various cord packing arrangements, but one drawback with these is that they produce a relatively high initial resistance, i.e., the static friction of a shaft relative to such packing clearly exceeds the kinetic friction. The conducted preliminary tests have indicated that the kinetic friction is about 75% of the static friction reading.